Island



(No Model.)

R. W. NEWTON. AUTOMATIG FIRE EXTINGUISHER.

No. 449,380. Patented Mar. 31,1891.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT IV. NEWTON, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

AUTOMATIC FIRE-EXTINGUISHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 449,380, dated March 31, 1891.

Application filed SeptemberZZ, 1890. Serial No. 365,776. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ROBERT W. NEWTON, of Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Automatic Fire- Extinguishers; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

This invention has reference to an improvement in the construction of the class of automatic fire-extinguishers known in the arts as automatic sprinklers and it consists in the peculiar and novel construction of the supporting-frame and the deflector, and also in the novel construction of the device by which the valve is held to its seat, as will be more fully set forth hereinafter.

- Figure 1 is a side view of my improved automatic sprinkler in the closed position. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the same. Fig. 3.is a vertical sectional view of the sprinkler, all parts being shown in their respective positions when the sprinkler is open. Fig. i is a perspective view of one of the springs placed between the sprinkler-head and the deflector. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the levers used for holding the valve to its seat.

Similar numbers of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

The object of the invention is to secure a sprinkler that will be more sensitive to the action of the heat on the solder, that will open more quickly, and in which the solder is protected, so that the water cannot reach the soldered joint.

In the drawings, the number 6 indicates the head of the sprinkler, usually made of cast metal and provided with a central duct, through which the water passes. The wrenchfacets 7 and the screw-threaded neck 8 are formed in one piece with the head and permit the head to be screwed into a suitable pipefitting piece, such as a T or elbow piece. The interior duct or water-passage is contracted at the lower face of the head into the discharge-opening 9, surrounded by a valve-seat.

Secured to the head 6 is a frame consisting of the pendent arms 10, the cross-piece 11, and

the supports 12. The metal of the cross-piece 11 between the supports 12 and the arms 10 is formed intothe grooves 13 and extends below the lower edge of the cross-piece 11, so as to form drips, by which any water that may by the leakage of the sprinkler or from any cause run down on the pendent arms 10 is caused to drip off from the lower end and prevented from passing laterally on the crosspiece 11.

The valve 1 1 forms part of or is secured to the deflector-disk 15.. The deflector-disk is slotted at opposite ends. The arms 10 extend through the slots in the deflector-disk and form a guide for the same.

The deflector-disk is provided with the cylindrical downwardly-proj ect in g rim 16, which rim surrounds and protects the central portion of the sprinkler-frame and the soldered joint. The deflector-disk and valve are held in the closed position (shown in Figs. 1 and 2) by the diamond-shaped locking device, consisting of the two levers 17, (shown enlarged in Fig. 5,) the upper rounded ends of which bear against the deflector-disk and the lower grooved end against the edges of the supports 12, where they are supported by the levers 18, the lower portions of which are secured to the cross-piece 11 by a solder fusible at a low temperature.- The lower ends of the levers 18 exvalve may be firmly pressed to its seat by exerting pressure against the lower ends of the levers 18. The levers 18 have their upper ends bearing on the lower ends of the levers 17 in the slot at the lower ends of these levers 17, as is clearly shown in Fig 2, and therefore the upper ends of the levers 18 are in the center of the supports 12, while the lower ends of these levers 17 extend by the two opposite sides of the cross-piece 11,touching each surface on the upper edge and extending slightly outward from the two side surfaces at the lower edge of the cross-piece 11. When the levers 18 are secured by the solder interposed between the lower part of the levers 18 and the cross-piecc 11, the lower ends of these levers are pressed against the surfaces of the cross-piece and are so secured. When new the solder joint is weakened, the lower ends tend beyond the cross piece 11, so that the ICO of the levers instantly spring away from the solder, and the slightest downward movement of the valve and deflector-disk increases this difference in the angle of the two contiguous surfaces, so that a resoldering of the joint is impossible, and by reason of the resilient tension on the levers 18 a most sensitive solder joint is produced, which the instant the heat reaches the fusing-point of the solder will break and separate the parts. Another valuable advantage is secured by the use of this novel diamond-shaped locking device. The levers 17 and 18 form toggle-jointed levers. A portion of the resistance consists in the strain against the edges of the supports 12, and the rest of the strain is divided between the two soldered joints of the levers 18 on the two sides of the cross-piece 11. The pressure on the valve is therefore resisted by two solder joints, and is more securely held than it could be held under the same conditions by one solder joint.

A new difficulty arises when two solder joints are used. The heat in a building is subject to currents, and therefore one solder joint may be heated to the fusing or breaking point before the other. This disadvantage is completely overcome by the peculiar construction and operation of the diamond locking device, for when either one of the two levers 18 is released the Whole device collapses as completely as when both are released simultaneously. The springs 19 are placed between the lower face of the head 0 and the deflector 15 to secure the prompt opening of the valve.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent-- 1. The combination, in an automatic fireextinguisher, with the head 6, provided with the outlet-opening 9, surrounded with a valveseat, and the deflector-disk 15, provided with the valve 14, of the supporting-frame consisttion, with the valve, of a device for holding the valve in the closed position, consisting of the levers 18, the lower ends of which are secured by solder fusible at' a low temperature, and the levers 17, extending from the upper ends of the levers 18 to the valve-disk, as described.

3. The combination, in an automatic sprinkler, with the sprinkler-head and the deflector provided with a valve, of the pendent arms 10, secured to the head, the cross-piece 11, the supports 12, the levers 17, and the levers 18, secured at their lower ends to opposite sides of the cross-piece 11 by solder, as described.

4. The combination, as herein set forth, with the head 6,the valve 14, and deflector-disk 15, of the cylindrical rim 16, the pendent arms 10, the cross-piece 11,the supports 12, the grooves or channels 13, and the locking device consisting of the levers 17 and 18, the latter secured to the two sides of the cross-piece by solder, as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand. 1

ROBERT W. NEWTON. Witnesses:

HENRY J. MILLER, J. A. MILLER, Jr. 

